Waggit's Tale Page 11

  The most serious problem was the food shortage. As Lowdown had predicted, the Tazarians’ stash was nowhere near enough, and as Waggit had feared, the remaining food in Tashi’s stash had been taken, either by Tashi himself or by hungry, scavenging loners. Days went by when each dog had too little to eat or sometimes nothing at all. The colder it got, the more distracted Tazar seemed to be, and the longer his absences became. The team relied on him to organize hunts, using his experience of the park and of the habits of small animals to know where the best spots were likely to be. Adding to all these problems was the fact that there were now two extra, very hungry mouths to feed.

  It had happened during the period that the dogs called the Season of Lights. Waggit first noticed it when he and Lowdown were walking along the edge of the Risingside, close to the road that separated the park from the apartment houses. He suddenly became aware of a number of colored lights in the windows, winking on and off. He had also seen similar ones on the collars of the horses that pulled the carriages around the bottom part of the park, and on the carriages themselves. When he asked Lowdown what the lights were for, the older dog said that nobody knew for sure, but there seemed to be a period during the middle of the winter when human beings liked to decorate buildings and other objects with them. He thought it might be because the days were so short at this time, and the darkness so depressing, that it was their way of cheering themselves up. Both dogs agreed that human beings were mysterious creatures who did a lot of unexplainable things.

  Several days later Waggit and Lowdown were wandering around on a fruitless scavenge when they came across a large, brightly colored box. At first they thought it might contain food, but then they noticed that it was moving and that strange squeaking sounds were coming from it. Cautiously they approached it, circling around a couple of times before going up to it. As they got closer the movement and sounds stopped. Waggit gripped the top of the container between his teeth and quickly pulled it back to reveal a couple of very young and very frightened puppies.

  “What are you two young things doing in here?” asked Lowdown in his softest, kindest voice. The two little creatures huddled closer to each other, making sad little whimpering sounds.

  “My oh my,” said Lowdown, “I think they may be too young to talk.” But later they discovered that this wasn’t so; the puppies were just too cold and too frightened to speak.

  “What shall we do with them?” asked Waggit. “We can’t just leave them here.”

  “Of course not,” agreed Lowdown. “We must take them back to the tunnel.”

  “How will we do that? They’re too small to walk.”

  “We’ll do what their mother would do under the same circumstances,” said Lowdown. “We’ll carry them in our mouths, gently though.”

  He carefully picked up one of the puppies by the loose flesh at the back of its neck. As he did this they both squealed, fearing separation, so Waggit bent tenderly over the other one and lifted it in the same manner. They moved quickly but carefully back to the tunnel, making sure not to slip on the ice and drop their precious packages.

  Their arrival got a mixed reception. Alicia haughtily asked what breed the puppies were, while Gruff complained that nowadays they couldn’t get enough to feed themselves, without bringing more mouths into the team, particularly those too young to contribute anything to the food supply. Secretly Gordo was thinking the same thing but was too ashamed to admit it, and his initial feeling was changed by Magica’s reaction to the puppies, which was one of uncontrolled maternal joy. She cooed, and licked them, and cuddled them in her fur. As Gordo watched her, he too felt a warmth inside that had nothing to do with the weather or anything other than his love for Magica. Tazar was also deeply affected by the two youngsters. The thought of them being left in a box in the bitter winter weather seemed to cause him physical pain.

  When they had warmed up and had been given what little food could be spared, the puppies told a tale that was strange to Waggit but all too familiar to the rest of the team. Their earliest memories were of being in a store with lots of other puppies, as well as kittens and birds and a host of other animals. They couldn’t remember having a mother, although they were sure they must have had one at some time. One day two humans took them away from the store and brought them to a house where they lived for several days. Then they were put in a box, the same one in which Waggit and Lowdown had found them. They stayed in it for some time, scared and unsure of what was happening.

  Suddenly the lid of the box was lifted, and two older humans looked in. The puppies saw that they were in a room, which strangely enough had a tree growing in it that was covered in lights, and there were lots of humans also opening boxes and talking their strange talk that the puppies couldn’t understand. After a hectic day of eating and being played with by small humans, the older ones took the puppies in the box to another house, but the following day left them in the park where the two Tazarians found them. They had no idea what had happened and why it had happened to them, but now they felt safe surrounded by their own kind. Soon they fell asleep, nestled in Magica’s fur.

  Of course nobody questioned that the two puppies would stay and be looked after by the team. Anyone suggesting otherwise would have had to deal with Magica. Unless she was hunting they were always within inches of her. If she felt they weren’t getting enough food she would give them hers. In short, she became the mother that they had never known. They were known as Little One and Little Two by the team, and spent their days either playing, and yelping in their squeaky voices, or sleeping for many hours, but always under her protective care.

  There was no letup to the bitter weather, and the food problem got worse. It was even difficult to get water. All of the lakes were frozen and the fountains had been shut down at the beginning of the winter. Normally the dogs could take mouthfuls of snow when they were thirsty, but there was none, just hard-packed ice. They survived by chewing on the icicles that had fallen from the ceiling of the tunnel. Everything was frozen: the water was frozen, the food was frozen, the dogs were frozen. It was miserable.

  Misery turned to tragedy one day when Magica suddenly had a spasm of pain in her stomach. At first she thought it was because she had eaten very little lately, and that it would go away. But instead it got worse and more frequent, to the point that she could barely stand. She even growled at Little One and Little Two to leave her alone.

  Then Gordo came down with the same symptoms. The team was scared. Everyone had heard stories about how whole packs had been wiped out by illnesses that had been passed from one dog to another. Each waited nervously to see who would be next, checking his or her own body for any signs of sickness. Nobody else appeared to be affected, but the two dogs who were seemed to be getting worse by the hour. Magica was unable to stand at all and would go into convulsions. Although not as severe, Gordo’s symptoms were the same.

  “This is serious,” Lowdown whispered to Waggit. “Go see if you can find Tazar.”

  “Sure thing,” said Waggit. “Any idea which way he went?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” answered Lowdown.

  As it turned out, Waggit hadn’t gone more than a few hundred yards when he came upon Tazar heading toward the tunnel. He quickly explained to the leader what had happened, and they ran back to the camp. Tazar looked at both the stricken dogs and went over to Magica.

  “Lady, tell me what you ate since the last rising,” he said, but she could only look at him with sad, suffering eyes as her body twitched in pain. He moved to Gordo.

  “Gordo, what have you eaten lately?” he asked with a determined but kind manner.

  “Just stuff,” said Gordo.

  “What kind of stuff? I need details,” said Tazar.

  “Well, let’s see…” Gordo stopped midsentence as he clenched his teeth with pain.

  “Gordo, listen to me,” said Tazar. “Did you eat a scurry? You and Magica?”

  “We might have,” was the reply.


  “Might have or did? It’s important,” continued Tazar.

  “Well, yes, we did share one.”

  “Did you kill it?” asked Tazar.

  “Almost.”

  “Almost!” Tazar was trying to keep his patience with the sick animal. “How in the name of Vinda do you almost kill a scurry?”

  “Well, it had only just died. It was still warm, so I thought it would be okay,” said Gordo.

  Tazar had a rule that the team only ate what they had just killed. Only freshly killed meat was likely to be safe, and not bring sickness into the tunnel, whereas something that was already dead could be lethal. Rats were particularly suspect, for there were periods when their bodies were seen around the park in mysteriously large numbers. The dogs didn’t know it, but this was the result of park workers putting down poison when the rats got to be a problem.

  “Why, Gordo? Why did you do it? You know the rule,” said Tazar sorrowfully, his flash of impatience past.

  “I was worried about Magica,” said Gordo. “She gives nearly all her food to the puppies. I thought she wasn’t getting enough to eat, so I went hunting on my own, only I’m not good at it. I’m so clumsy and slow that any animal hears me coming a long way off. Are we going to die, Tazar?”

  “Yes, we are,” replied Tazar, “but hopefully not for a long while.”

  Nobody in the tunnel got very much sleep that night. They put both sick dogs in the center of the rotation and kept them there for the entire night, but what with Magica’s sudden convulsions and Gordo’s groaning there was nothing to do but stay awake and worry.

  In the morning things seemed to have improved somewhat. Gordo was actually able to stand a little, and Magica could lick at a piece of ice, although she still lay in pain.

  “It’s passing through,” said Tazar. And then, less certainly, “Please let it pass through.”

  He sent Alona off with Little One and Little Two so that they wouldn’t disturb Magica. The shy, awkward animal seemed to have a connection with the puppies that was difficult for her to make with bigger dogs. The puppies themselves knew that something was wrong, but they weren’t quite sure what, and under her watchful eye they played happily beneath some trees just a short distance from the mouth of the tunnel. Tazar also sent Cal and Raz to scavenge and hunt for food, and the rest of the dogs took turns sitting beside either Magica or Gordo. The worst thing was that there was nothing the dogs could do except to wait and see what happened. Waggit looked down fondly at the big, brown, ungainly dog who was his friend. Gordo lifted his head slightly and looked at him with mournful eyes.

  “It was still warm, Waggit,” he said. “How could it’ve been bad?”

  “I don’t know,” Waggit answered. “I would’ve probably done the same thing myself.”

  Waggit knew in his heart of hearts that this wasn’t true, but he said it to make his friend feel better. It didn’t work.

  “No you wouldn’t,” said Gordo. “You’re the best hunter on the team. You’re fast and quiet, and nothing gets away from you.”

  “But if there’s nothing to hunt, Gordo,” Waggit tried again, “it doesn’t matter how fast and quiet you are.”

  “You’d’ve found something,” Gordo insisted. Then he moaned. “It hurts, Waggit, it hurts.”

  “I know it does,” said Waggit. “I wish there was something I could do to take it away from you.”

  Gordo looked toward the sleeping form of Magica, who lay quite still.

  “Well,” he said, “at least it seems as if she’s not in too much pain now.”

  “Yes,” Waggit agreed, “she looks okay.”

  “She’ll probably be better when she wakes up,” said Gordo hopefully.

  The day passed uneventfully. Cal and Raz returned empty-mouthed and were promptly sent out again by Tazar, with instructions not to come back until they had some food. Lowdown fussed around the patients, dragging newspaper over them to try to keep them warm. Even Gruff took his turn at comforting Gordo, and Alicia sat motionless, staring at Magica’s sleeping form. Tazar and Waggit took turns on sentry duty. It was during one of the times that Waggit was sitting in the tunnel that the puppies returned with Alona. Each had a huge pinecone in his mouth that was almost as big as he was. Little Two dropped his by Magica.

  “Mommy Magica, look what Alona found for us,” he said excitedly.

  Magica did not wake.

  “Mommy Magica, wake up,” he insisted.

  There was still no response from her.

  “Please, Mommy Magica, please wake up.” The puppy was getting frantic, and his panic alerted the other dogs in the tunnel. He started to lick her face in an attempt to get a response but got nothing.

  Then one eye opened, followed by the other. Magica lifted her head slowly and smiled at him.

  “Why, little one, what’s the matter?” she said in a soft voice.

  “I’m Little Two,” said the puppy, “and I couldn’t get you to wake up.”

  “Well, you see, I wasn’t feeling too good, not quite myself,” she said, “but I’m better now.”

  She got up, shook herself, and licked the puppy back for good measure. A feeling of relief swept through the tunnel. All the other dogs crowded around her, asking if she was really all right, telling her not to tire herself, and offering her pieces of ice for refreshment. All the other dogs, that is, except Gordo, who was still feeling far from well himself, and furthermore was not sure how Magica would treat him, knowing it was his foolishness that had put her through such misery. She spotted him through the crowd that surrounded her and went over to where he lay.

  “Gordo,” she said affectionately, “get up on those big paws of yours. What’re you doing lying there on a beautiful day like today?”

  To Gordo it was possibly the most beautiful day of his life. Knowing she had forgiven him brought a lump to his throat.

  “I’m still not feeling too good myself,” he said when the lump had gone away enough for him to speak.

  “Well,” said Magica, with a twinkle in her eye, “you must watch what you eat. You never know what you might pick up.”

  And that was the last thing she ever said on the subject.

  It wasn’t, however, the last thing that Tazar said. When the others had left the tunnel and he was alone with Gordo, he turned to him with a serious look on his face.

  “Don’t ever put us through something like that again,” he said. “We nearly lost her, you know.”

  “I never wanted to do her no harm,” protested Gordo. “I was just worried she wasn’t getting enough to eat.”

  “We often do the most harm when we least intend it,” said Tazar, “but there was something else though, wasn’t there? You wanted to be a hero, the great hunter, to look good in front of her.”

  Gordo hung his head and didn’t answer.

  “I know how that feels,” Tazar continued, “how nice it is to impress, to feel good about yourself. But you have to be true to yourself as well, and you weren’t. You’re not a hunter, and you know it. You’re too big and too slow, and there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the way you were made. Some are born hunters and some are not, and you, my friend, are definitely one of the nots. Magica doesn’t love you because you’re a hunter; she’s a better hunter than you anyway. She loves you because you’re you.” He paused. “As do we all, you big lug.”

  “I know it, Tazar,” said Gordo dejectedly. “I know all that you just said.”

  “See, the reason I can say this to you,” the leader went on, “is that I’m not much of a hunter myself. That’s why I send other brothers and sisters out to do it for me, because they do it better. I do other things they can’t.”

  By this time Gordo was feeling thoroughly sorry for himself.

  “I don’t think there’s anything I do that’s better than anyone else. I don’t contribute.”

  “You frighten dogs better than anyone else, dogs who don’t know you, that is,” said Tazar. “Nobody will mess with you or with
the team while you’re around, and when it gets down to it you’re a good fighter, even though you don’t like it. This realm’s safer with you in it.”

  “You think so?” asked Gordo.

  “I do.”

  “Well, I suppose.” Gordo was obviously pleased.

  “So here’s the deal,” said Tazar. “We’ll hunt it, and you eat it. How’s that sound?”

  “I think it’s a deal I can live with,” said Gordo with a smile.

  And that was the last time anyone said anything on the subject.

  12

  Tazar’s Secret

  Life in the park was improving. The weather slowly got warmer, which made everything much easier. Not only was getting around less dangerous for the dogs, but Waggit and Lowdown also discovered on one of their foraging trips that holes had begun to appear in the ice on the Bigwater. Now they were able to drink real water again instead of chewing on icicles. Magica and Gordo were back to full health, and it seemed that the only lasting effect of their recent poisoning was to make Gordo take his new position of team security chief a bit too seriously. He was overprotective and cautious with everyone, especially Magica, even bossy on occasion. Except for Gruff, they all tolerated this good naturedly, knowing that it was just a matter of time before he forgot what he was supposed to do, and once again became the lovable bumbler that they were used to.

  One morning Waggit was lying in front of the tunnel, watching Little One and Little Two play. He could see from their games that they were learning to hunt. This was the serious side to the puppies’ fun, one upon which their survival would depend. He also realized how much he had changed since that fateful night when he first met Tazar. Up to that moment he had led a sheltered and protected life, something that these two puppies would never know, but which they would never miss.